“It’s high…”
I was referring to the ceiling.
It was nearly three meters to the hole.
It seemed impossible to climb normally.
“Do you have any tools?”
I asked Train-chan just in case, but…
“If I had something like that, I wouldn’t be in this predicament.”
She just shook her head discouragingly.
I looked up again.
As expected, it was absolutely impossible to climb with just my bare hands.
And when I considered whether any of my current skills could help, the answer was no.
Step could be used on slopes, but not for vertical movement.
The conclusion was that, as things stood, there was no way to escape this cave.
“Even you, Soma-san, can’t do anything about it?”
Train-chan asked me with a flicker of hope in her voice, like a drowning person grasping at straws.
I wished I could give her a reassuring answer, but…
“…Well, in the worst-case scenario, we’ll have to make a hole next to the stairs and dig our way up to the surface.”
That was the best I could offer at the moment.
“Do you have tools for digging holes?”
She asked, her voice laced with expectation. I remained silent.
My shovel was broken, after all.
(It’s not like there’s absolutely no way.)
I could dig a tunnel to the surface, or create footholds all the way up, or perhaps jump straight to the top.
Several methods came to mind.
However, only time-consuming ones immediately occurred to me.
For now, let’s start with what we can do.
“It’s a bit dark to work here.
First, let’s get some light.”
“…Okay.”
I led Train-chan, who seemed quite dejected, back to the sealed door.
There were two torches on the door.
Taking one wouldn’t trouble anyone, I thought.
I yanked the torch on the right… Huh?
“I-It won’t come out…”
It seemed I had underestimated this world.
In the game, torches were fixed to the walls and couldn’t be carried, but I had assumed that since this was reality, I could easily take one.
“Guh, guuh!”
Even with all my strength, it wouldn’t budge.
It appeared that the bracket wasn’t just holding the torch, but rather the bracket was dug into the torch itself to secure it.
…This is a problem.
I had gone through such trouble to get here, and now I couldn’t even take a torch with me.
(No, let’s change my approach.)
An idea struck me, and I drew my Shiranui in front of the torch.
“Wha-!? What are you doing, Soma-san!”
Train-chan looked flustered by my sudden erratic behavior.
But this was a well-thought-out plan.
“If I can’t pull it out, I can cut it, I thought.”
This was the kind of thinking that turns a pinch into an opportunity.
It might take time, but this seemed like the most reliable method.
The only question was whether the cut torch would still be usable. But even if I failed, there was still the other torch.
If I succeeded, I’d have this torch. If I failed, the risk wasn’t that great.
It was definitely worth a try.
With a light heart, I raised my Shiranui and swung it casually.
“Ah, what?”
A sound like steel hitting something that shouldn’t make such a noise echoed, and my Shiranui bounced off.
I couldn’t even tell if it had done any damage.
“Well, let’s try again.”
Slightly shaken, I swung my sword at the torch again, this time with all my might.
“Ugh!”
This time, a dull thud sounded, and my strike was stopped by the surface of the torch.
I wondered if the attack had actually landed.
I didn’t know.
“…It’s not working at all, is it.”
A muffled voice came from behind me.
I got a little serious.
“Step back.”
I told her to move away, and I myself distanced myself from the torch.
Of course, there was only one reason for this.
It was to unleash the strongest blow I could muster.
I assumed a drawing stance with my Shiranui, and with a fierce battle cry, I ran my blade.
“Invisible Ble—”
—CLANG!!
I felt an unusually hard resistance, and my skill was interrupted halfway through the swing.
Of course, the skill didn’t fail to activate.
It activated, but the target was so hard that it caused the skill to be interrupted.
“…It’s not working at all, is it.”
Train-chan’s voice came from behind me again.
But it wasn’t “not working at all”!
My blow had actually dug into the wood of the torch.
It was a slight mark, barely visible unless you were close, but I had injured the torch!
At this point, victory was practically assured.
If I repeated the same thing enough times, I would eventually be able to cut through this torch.
“Um, if it’s about light, you can use my items, so can we go now?”
Ignoring Train-chan’s words from behind me, I gripped my Shiranui and swung again.
“Invisible Blade!”
With a shout, I swung my Shiranui, only to be blocked by the torch.
I had lost count of how many times I had done this.
However, the crevice in the torch was now clearly visible.
My efforts were definitely paying off.
Thank goodness for version 1.09.
Train-chan, who had complained incessantly at first, had given up and stopped saying anything.
I was honestly grateful.
However, at the same time, a new problem had emerged.
(Perhaps I overdid it a little.)
I had apparently gone a bit too hard, and not only the torch but also my Shiranui showed slight signs of accumulated damage.
At this pace, both would be ruined soon.
I decided to take a short break and then stop using skills.
What was needed was to continue dealing damage, however slight.
There was no need to use flashy techniques to increase the power of each blow.
Fortunately, in this world, based on the game, I wouldn’t get tired no matter how many times I swung my sword.
Well, my stamina gauge did decrease, but it regenerated naturally enough.
Switching from skills to normal attacks, I began to swing my sword with silent determination. Then, a voice called out from behind me again.
“I think that’s probably pointless.”
It was Train-chan, who had been silent for a while.
“It’s not pointless.”
I replied immediately, but she shook her head.
“The cut you made with your skill earlier, Soma-san, it’s already gone.
I think that torch has HP auto-regeneration.”
…I had known that for a long time.
Indeed, the cut I had made with ‘Invisible Blade’ was already healing.
The scratches I made without skills were too small and disappeared as soon as they were made.
Still, I continued to swing my sword tirelessly, and Train-chan approached me.
“Look, Soma-san.
I’m not saying this to be mean, but please stop and let’s go back to the entrance?
If we go back, we might think of a better method.”
She said this with a look of pure kindness, like an angel, but of course, I pretended not to hear.
Seeing my reaction, she said,
“Fine! I don’t care anymore!”
And then she sat down on the spot.
Despite saying she didn’t care, she remained to watch. In any case, she seemed to have no intention of interfering further.
While she sat there, I continued to cut at the torch, and eventually…
“She’s asleep…”
When I looked back, Train-chan was leaning against the wall, fast asleep.
Should I call her shameless, or lacking a sense of urgency?
While sighing at her nonchalant attitude, there was still nothing I could do but continue.
With Train-chan’s peaceful snores behind me, I continued to swing my right arm.
How many hours had passed since we descended underground?
Cutting the torch had become much more efficient, and now my Shiranui moved in small, rapid motions, like shredding cabbage.
It was simply the act of repeatedly striking the torch.
As I endlessly repeated this task…
“You didn’t try to ambush me while I was sleeping.”
A voice came from behind me.
Startled, I turned around.
“You…”
What surprised me about her was, of course, her confidence in herself.
Did she really think I’d attack her while she slept? How self-important could she be?
I turned and looked slightly below Train-chan’s face as she woke up.
To put it crudely, she looked more like a local train than a bullet train.
…I meant her speed, of course.
“Th-That’s not it!”
She shrieked, covering herself with both hands as if sensing my lecherous gaze.
“I mean, it’s like a sacrifice for the Evil God!
You know, like offering the precious blood of a maiden to open a gate, that sort of thing!”
“Oh, right. That sort of thing.”
Did she still suspect me of being a cultist?
What happened to her saying she believed me?
It felt like she was just trying to cover up her nap by spouting nonsense, but I couldn’t resist saying something unnecessarily harsh.
“You slept quite soundly for an act.”
“I was… pretending to sleep.
I just wanted to see what Soma-san would do if I faked being asleep.”
Train-chan said this proudly.
But, sadly…
“Your mouth is drooling, you know.”
“No way, that’s a lie… Ugh!”
Startled, Train-chan wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, which came away sticky.
I thought she’d have no more excuses, but she screamed again.
“That’s just drool acting!”
“…So it’s an act of drool.”
While we exchanged these strange words, my hands continued to move without rest.
Noticing this, Train-chan launched a counterattack.
“W-Well, I don’t want to hear that from someone who’s been doing something pointless for so long!”
However,
“Alright. I’m done.”
“…Huh?”
It was about time.
I stepped away from the torch, just as I had done at the beginning.
“Invisible Blade!”
Without any exertion, I unleashed the skill.
And that blow,
“Wh-What!?”
This time, it sliced cleanly through the torch.
The upper half of the lit torch fell to the ground, leaving the lower half next to the door.
…Success.
(Alright!!)
I cheered inwardly.
Eagerly, I picked up the torch.
I turned to Train-chan triumphantly, but she said with a hint of displeasure,
“I admit it’s impressive… But, so what? How are you going to get out with that?”
…Ah, I hadn’t thought that far ahead, of course.
No, that wasn’t true at all.
Having successfully obtained the torch as per my original objective, I, along with Train-chan, returned to the entrance with a triumphant air.
To be thorough, I held up the torch I had just acquired and examined the hole in the ceiling.
“It is narrow, but… I think I can manage now, right?”
My sword might get stuck, but I figured I could force my way through.
As I held up the torch and looked up at the hole, nodding,
“Just to look at the hole, the light from the surface would have been enough, so I didn’t think you needed a torch.”
Train-chan kept chiming in with her usual dampening remarks.
Where had the naive Train-chan I knew gone?
Thinking this, I extinguished the torch and put it in my bag.
“Eh!? Aren’t you going to use the torch anymore?!”
Ignoring Train-chan’s reaction, I drew my Shiranui.
I looked at the hole and adjusted my stance.
“Stay back a bit.”
I told Train-chan to move away, then readied my Shiranui.
Now, this is where it begins.
“Here I go!”
Taking a deep breath, I loudly commanded my skill.
“Tenha—”
With the word, I swung my Shiranui.
“Mukyu—”
Then I leaped! I ascended at a speed far surpassing Step.
The sword snagged on the edge of the hole, but I cut through it without hesitation.
From the bottom of the hole, I shot up to a height of several meters above the ground in one breath.
A moment of stillness, and then…
“—Hisho, Ken!!”
With a shout, I dove diagonally towards an imaginary enemy.
I swung my Shiranui down with the force of splitting the earth!
“…Phew.”
When the skill’s recovery period ended, I was kneeling on the ground a short distance from the hole.
Escape, successful.
“Phew. I made it out somehow…”
You might think I used some sort of cheating technique to escape again, but that’s not the case.
What I just used was not a cancel or a bug, but a genuine skill with the same name.
And the skill itself was nothing special, just a simple skill that allowed for a short upward movement, with no other peculiar effects.
—That’s right.
‘Tenha Mukyu Hisho Ken’ is the 12th sword skill, counting from Slash, that one can normally learn around the end of the game by focusing on swords and increasing proficiency, without needing any special strategies.
